The leaves murmur
in the wind, Mother,
and lull me to sleep
in their shade.

A breeze blows
soft and light,
moving the ship
of my thoughts.
It makes me feel
so content, it’s as if
I’ve been given
an advance taste
of heaven,
lulled to sleep
in their shade.

If I happen to wake,
I find myself
among flowers,
scarce able to recall
my cares —
lost to sight,
vanquished by dreaming —
and the sound of the leaves
brings me to life,
lulled to sleep
in their shade.

***

NOTES

These are all anonymous lyrics from the 15th and 16th centuries, translated with the help of a dictionary. I’m no scholar, but based on Cola Franzen’s translations in Poems of Arab Andalusia (City Lights, 1989), among other lines of evidence, I can only suppose that the vivid natural imagery in the Castillian cancioneros reflects strong Mozarabic influence. The association of trees with paradise and seduction seems especially Arab to me.
Tres morillas / Three Moorish girls
I resisted the urge to translate “tan lozanas” as “hot and spicy,” but somehow the racist stereotype of the vivacious, sexually available, brown-skinned southerner feels all too familiar.
So ell encina / Beneath the holly oaks
This song is in a woman’s voice.

The holly oak, or holm oak, Quercus ilex, sports leathery, evergreen leaves and “forms a picturesque rounded head, with pendulous low-hanging branches.” The Wikipedia article also says it’s one of the three best trees under which to grow truffles.

Romerí­as were annual pilgrimages to local or regional shrines associated with saints or the Virgin Mary, and were often quite festive events — a tradition that continues to this day.

Con el viento murmuran / The leaves murmur
This could be in the voice of either sex.
__________

The next edition of the Festival of the Trees will be at Hoarded Ordinaries on January 1. Send your tree-related links to zenmama (at) gmail (dot) com with “Festival of the Trees” in the subject line by December 30.

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Thanks, Beth. Marja-Leena – I’d be interested in hearing more about specific parallels if you can think of them. I have a feeling that some of this taps into dim memories of pre-Christian European tree reverence.

what an impressive body of work,, not just the original poems mind you ,, but your translations,, and then the explanations you share as well,, this was an all together enjoyable experience for me thank you

I love these old songs. I know how to sing one of them – the “tres morillas” one. Your translations are beautiful. I think to translate a poem one should be a poet first, and a scholar second. And you are a scholar too. Just look at all the research you did.

I taught high school Spanish for years, and lived in Spain for a year, so these songs are close to my heart. It’s wonderful to see them here, translated for an English audience. Well done.

Thanks for these additional comments. It’s always nice to hear that a day’s work hasn’t gone unappreciated.

Dick, while hunting for copies of the lyrics online (because, after all, it’s easier to copy and paste than to transcribe!), I discovered an alternate version of Tres morillas/tres moricas that had been collected (and possibly edited, I don’t know) by Lorca.

Christine – Nice to hear that from a Spanish teacher! I had three years of Spanish in high school, which serves me well enough for a passive understanding of the language. Spanish-speaking members of the extended family have helped keep it fresh, along with my love for poetry in the Spanish language.

I made myself read the Spanish too, although I don’t have any. I could hear them being sung, I love spanish Renaissance music, and went to check out Catherine Bott’s two versions of Tres Morillas/Moricas. In the Moricas ones the girls are sexy and gorgeous but also chaste and canny! Your translations are much nicer than the ones she gives.

You may not know any Spanish, but it sounds as if you’re way more cultured than me when it comes to music! I heard a recording of “Tres morillas” for the first time only after I’d posted these, and a friend emailed me a couple of mp3s.

Your contributions to Festival of Trees are always inventive and inspiring. I’d never heard these songs before and now need to find recordings. Thanks for adding more tree poems to my collection of favorites.

¡Muy bueno! I like your translations, perfect. Many of the Spanish words would not be familiar to the Spaniards any more, ‘garridas’, ‘desmaídas’. Most Spaniards will understand a very sexual subtext in
Tres morillas tan garridas
iban a coger olivas,
y hallábanse cogidas en Jaén

‘Coger, cogidas’ in many Spanish speaking countries, hmm, it is a verb forbidden to use in polite society, if you get what I mean.
The version that I learn in school (!) said
‘e fallábanlas cogidas
en Jaén’
With its emphasis on the olives and not on the three girls it is a lot more tame.

I came across two amazingly beautiful renditions of ‘So el encina’ on the youtube and was searching for a translation of the lyrics. Google led me here. I don’t know Spanish but your translation rings true, somehow. And the tune seems even more moving now. Thank you.